Im looking to find a recipe for smoked carp or sucker. Also wondering if you guys leave the fish whole or if you use fillets. Any help is appreciated. Hey James what do you think about making a Recipes forum for anything and everything wildgame/deercamp/fishing trips/anything outdoors? Just a thought
sorry i’m not much help but i think your idea of a recipe forum is a good one….i’m always looking for new tasty ideas for all kinds of fish and game…i also have some to add just not with smoking or pickling but i’d like to start.
Sushi, Get you some cabbage leaves and vinegar oil 
Standard salt brine is 2 cups salt to one gallon water. I back off the salt to 1 1/2 cups per gallon. You need about 10 oz of brine per lb. of fish. Whole or cut up, fillets or bone in chunks are individual preferences, if larger fish I advise cutting up. Brine overnight. Place fish on a rack sprayed with non-stickum in the smoke house. Dry for 1 hour at 150 deg. Apply smoke (add wood chips) for 6-8 hours until done. The amount of fish relative to the size of the smoker is a major factor on time. If you jamb a small smoker with lots of thick fish the time it takes to get done will increase dramatically. If you talk to 10 people who smoke fish you will hear 10 different recipes. And much of it comes down to personal preferences, especially on saltiness and texture. Many people use a sweetner like brown sugar. All good.
I use this for Walleye & Sauger. Should work fine for your use. I love this on smoked Walleye and Saugers!
Ingredients needed:
* 2 quarts water
* ½ cup non iodized salt
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* ¼ cup lemon juice
* ¼ cup cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon onion powder
* 1 tablespoon garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
* 1 teaspoon orange peel
* 1 teaspoon ground cloves
* Walleye or sauger filets with the scales intact (about 8 filets)
* ¼ Butter or ¼ stick of margarine
* Some honey
Equipment needed:
* Oven
* Pan to cook fish on
* Smoker and wire racks to set fish on
* 1 bag of hickory chips
* 1 Brush
* 1 big plastic bowl with cover or a bowl to marinade the fish in.
Pour all of the ingredients above into the plastic bowl or bowl. Mix the mixture until ingredients are fully dissolved. Set fish filets into bowl with scale side up. Make sure filets don’t overlap. Cover bowl with cover or plastic wrap. Set bowl into refrigerator overnight.
Uncover bowl. Drain out marinade. Remove fish and rinse with cold water. Set fish onto pan and pat with a paper towel to dry fish. Let stand for 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter in a bowl. Spread some white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon onto the fish filets. Pour and spread some honey onto the fish filets.
Cook fish in oven for 15 minutes or so.
Put the wood chips in the smoker and smoke for about 2 hours or until golden brown.
I think the recipe forum is a great idea. Through out the year we could put all kinds of recipes on there for what ever season it is. During deer hunting I’m always looking for new ideas. 
I use the following for Salmon.
Add as much water as you think needed to cover fish. Before you add the fish, slowly add canning salt to water while stirring. You will know when you have enough salt when an uncooked egg floats in the mixture. Add 1/2 as much brown sugar as you did salt and stir well. Soak fish overnight.
I use a charcol smoker and I find little difference in cooking time no matter how much fish I smoke or what rack its on (top or bottom). I use Hickory CHUNKS from Gander Mountain. If possible soak the chunks in water overnight.
I use the same recipe as ‘Freedom Rock’ except I brush on a layer of buffalo wing sauce at the start of the smoking process to add a bit of ‘kick’. To get a little smoother taste I skip the wing sauce and crumble/brush on a layer of brown sugar instead…..Good luck!
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Add as much water as you think needed to cover fish. Before you add the fish, slowly add canning salt to water while stirring. You will know when you have enough salt when an uncooked egg floats in the mixture. Add 1/2 as much brown sugar as you did salt and stir well. Soak fish overnight.
This is also the brine I like to use but, after soaking over night I rinse my whole filets before seasoning. I leave the scales on the filets, this is the side I place down.
After the brining there are a lot of ways to seasoning before you put it in the smoker.
We like garlic, and a little brown sugar sprinkled over the top, the brown sugar makes a nice glaze.
Also Tony Chachere’s and Jim Zumbo have some great seasonings you could check out.
Have fun, you made me hungry 
I totally agree on the recipe section.
That being said, I have a little smoker and have wanted to smoke carp out of the river. How much of that do you think is OK to eat equivalent to the DNR warning?
I wouldn’t eat it weekly, especially the big ones. I like the 8-10lb fish for smoking, personal preference. They don’t seem to be as red and soft towards the skin as the bigger fish. I also prefer the Buffalo carp over the common carp for smoking, but that doesn’t happen to often.
Normally 3 a year find there way to my smoker, maybe 2 from the spring and one in the fall.
You should try PM’ing Fishingmachine….
I seem to remember she uses a “dry brining” method for carp…..
Just pack the fish(scales on) in salt overnight in the fridge…
I was hoping to try that this summer…. 
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I also prefer the Buffalo carp over the common carp for smoking, but that doesn’t happen to often.
Normally 3 a year find there way to my smoker, maybe 2 from the spring and one in the fall.
Just a quick aside. Buffalo are not carp. Buffalo are a native species to MN. Just wanted to clear the water on that.
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I brush on a layer of buffalo wing
Last I heard they don’t have wings either! 
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I also prefer the Buffalo carp over the common carp for smoking, but that doesn’t happen to often.
Normally 3 a year find there way to my smoker, maybe 2 from the spring and one in the fall.
Just a quick aside. Buffalo are not carp. Buffalo are a native species to MN. Just wanted to clear the water on that.
I just learned something new today….thanks Ralph
I think that qualifies me for going home now
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I think that qualifies me for going home now
You have my permission to go home
Rule of thumb:
sucker mouth and barbels = carp
sucker mouth and no barbels = something else
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Rule of thumb:
sucker mouth and barbels = carp
sucker mouth and no barbels = something else
I’m really not surprised you know this since your avatar shows you making out with a fish.
Kidding. Just kidding.
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Rule of thumb:
sucker mouth and barbels = carp
sucker mouth and no barbels = something else
I’m really not surprised you know this since your avatar shows you making out with a fish.
That mustache had to tickle
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